


Unforgettable

by Unionjackpillow



Category: Cabin Pressure
Genre: Blood, Gen, M/M, Suicide Attempt, gun - Freeform, if this triggers you don't read it, shots fired
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-26
Updated: 2014-08-13
Packaged: 2018-01-20 19:07:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1522268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Unionjackpillow/pseuds/Unionjackpillow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another day that would forever be etched in his memory was the day he had to watch Martin die.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My first attempt at writing fanfiction. Nothing beta'ed or brit-picked. All mistakes are my own. I am not a native speaker and even less of a native writer, so please be kind. Unfortunately I don't own Cabin Pressure or the rights to it, I only borrowed the characters from John Finnemore who is brilliant.

Prologue:

There were nights in which Douglas Richardson couldn’t find any sleep. In those nights the other side of his bed was too empty, the flat too quiet, and his thoughts always brought him back to one very specific day, this one day that changed his life.

Douglas was well aware of the fact that there were days and moments in everybody’s life that were unforgettable. The day his daughter was born was most certainly one of those days. The moment his first wife accepted his proposal was another one, but also the day his parents died. No one ever said you would only remember the good days.

Another day that would forever be etched in his memory was the day he had to watch Martin die.


	2. Thursday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Gun??” Douglas mind began to unravel. “Why was there someone with a gun in the house? Oh god, was Martin okay, he sounded so strange.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The first 'proper' chapter. If you want to call it that.  
> I still don't own CP, its characters or MJN air. Which is probably a very good thing.  
> All mistakes are my own, this fic is neither brit picked nor beta'ed.
> 
> Thanks to Jen for leaving a comment, to vezle, CCH1 (runningczar), martincrieff and the guests for leaving kudos.

Thursday began ordinary enough. Douglas got up, took a shower, made breakfast and was just about to start with his newspaper when the phone rang. He looked at its screen. Sighing, he pressed the accept button.

“Oh captain, my captain, what can I do for you at this ungodly hour?”

“Oh, uh, hello Douglas. It’s Martin …”

“I gathered that much from the caller ID, Martin. So I inquire once more: How can I be of service? Are there any dragons who need to be slain or do you need something from the top shelf and can’t reach it?”

Douglas could hear Martin swallow. “Must have been his pride”, he thought.

“Uh, well, my, my van, I can’t start it. And no, the battery is working and there’s still plenty of rabbit food left. So it’s not my fault it won’t start.” Martin began to sound a little agitated. Douglas could hear him breathe in deeply for a few times, in all likelihood to calm himself down and then, finally, his captain came to the point: “Douglas, could you, I mean, if it isn’t too much of an inconvenience, could you maybe pick me up on your way to the airfield?”

Douglas smiled inwardly and tried not to let it show in his voice. “Of course, Martin, it’ll be my pleasure to pick up GERT-I’s esteemed commander. You know how much I like it when people owe me colossal favours.”

“Yeah, right, uh, thanks, Douglas. See you in an hour then. Bye.” The line went dead.

This time the smile lit up his whole face. To be honest Douglas had developed a certain kind of attachment to his captain and was therefor rather looking forward to the pick up. When he first noticed that his fondness of Martin might be a little more than friendship, he vowed he wouldn’t act on it. Martin wasn’t his usual type and as far as Douglas knew or suspected, he also wasn’t into men. So he decided for himself he wouldn’t behave any differently than before his realization, thus his quip about the top shelf. Well, it was a rather cheap shot, but it was still early in the day. He would come up with much better bon mots later. For now he had to pack his flight bag and get going if he wanted to pick Martin up in time. Douglas didn’t mind showing up late for work, but he knew his sometimes prissy captain wasn’t as laid back as he himself was.

The drive to the student house Martin lived in took him only about 15 minutes. There was ample time to get to the airfield before 0800 hours. When Douglas pulled up at Parkside Terrace he expected to find Martin at the kerb waiting for him. But his captain was nowhere in sight. “Strange”, Douglas thought as he got out of his Lexus. He then chuckled. “That’s the first time I actually have to step into his fortress of solitude. If sharing a house with 5 students could be called solitude.”

As he stepped closer to the front door, he suddenly heard several voices, sounding hectic, erratic, confused, scared and everything in between. Standing right in front of the door he was able to make out some of the words:

“… don’t do it!”

     “…. step down, Stephen!”

             “I can’t do it anymore!”

                  “I have called the police and emergency services. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

And then Martin’s voice: “Please put the gun away, Stephen.”

“Gun??” Douglas mind began to unravel. “Why was there someone with a gun in the house? Oh god, was Martin okay, he sounded so strange. Who was this Stephen? Why did the girl want him to step down? What was going on?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Kudos and/or comments are much appreciated.


	3. Martin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Martin sighed. He liked Douglas, but he would like him even more if his FO wouldn’t constantly belittle him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for your support by leaving kudos and comments.  
> Like the previous chapters, this one is neither brit picked nor beta'ed. All mistakes are my own.

Thursday didn’t begin like all the other days for Martin. First, his alarm didn’t go off so he overslept. Mind you, not for very long, the students were much too loud this morning for him to be able to sleep in. So he got up, took a quick shower, grabbed his flight bag and a slice of toast on his way out of the house. He climbed into his van, put the key into the ignition and listened to a very strange noise. 

“No, no, no, please don’t do this to me, not today,” Martin mumbled to himself. He wanted to be early for work. He still had to do his logbooks and file a flightplan. Since Douglas was probably going to be late again, he’d also have to do the man-looks-at-plane-thing. Thinking about one of his favourite word games with Douglas made him smile and somehow calmed him down. “Okay, one more try.” But Martin’s non-existent luck was, as always, very faithful. 

Since he didn’t have money to spare for a taxi and Arthur and Carolyn lived to far away, he had no other choice but to ask Douglas for help. That was going to be fun. For Douglas. 

Once again Martin grabbed his flight bag and went back into the house. He climbed the stairs into his attic, which was quite big. It had the square footage of 3 of the student rooms combined, was well lit by two floor to ceiling windows and he had his own little bathroom so he didn’t have to share with the students. That was something he was very grateful for. But right know he had more important things to do than to think about his accommodations. Martin took his mobile phone and dialled Douglas’s number, who answered after only two rings. 

“Oh captain, my captain, what can I do for you at this ungodly hour?”

“Oh, uh, hello Douglas. It’s Martin …”

“I gathered that much from the caller ID, Martin. So I inquire once more: How can I be of service? Are there any dragons who need to be slain or do you need something from the top shelf and can’t reach it?” 

“Very funny, first officer Richardson.” That was the first thing Martin wanted to say. But since he needed Douglas to do him a favour, he swallowed this pride and said: “Uh, well, my, my van, I can’t start it. And no, the battery is working and there’s still plenty of rabbit food left. So it’s not my fault it won’t start.” Martin took a few deep breaths to calm down. Thankfully Douglas gave him those few precious seconds. Swallowing once more, Martin finally asked for the favour: “Douglas, could you, I mean, if it isn’t too much of an inconvenience, could you maybe pick me up on your way to the airfield?” 

“Of course, Martin, it’ll be my pleasure to pick up GERT-I’s esteemed commander. You know how much I like it when people owe me colossal favours.” Martin could practically see and hear his FO’s smirk. 

“Yeah, right, uh, thanks, Douglas. See you in an hour then. Bye.” He hang up. 

Figuring he had about half an hour before Douglas would be there for the pick up, Martin went downstairs for a nice cup of tea. 

Susan, one of the 5 students he currently shared his lodgings with, was in the kitchen. “Hello Martin. Do you want a cup of tea? I’ve just put the kettle on.”  
Martin blushed a little, which Susan found endearing. “Ah yes, thank you, Susan, I could really use one right now.”

While Susan prepared to cups of tea, Martin sat down at the kitchen table and checked his schedule on his phone. Today MJN had a flight to Munich to pick up some cargo, deliver half of it to Bremen and the other half to London, then they’d return to Fitton. Friday was a day off, no flights and no removals. On Saturday there were 3 jobs for Icarus Removals. Sunday would be another day off and the next week MJN would be on stand-by for some CEO or CFO or whatever. 

“Here’s your tea, Martin.” Susan smiled at him, which made him blush some more. He didn’t know why his body reacted so often in this way. Almost always when a girl or woman talked to him his face tried to match his hair colour, but usually it failed, since his face turned bright red and his hair was more of an auburn shade. Douglas had used this more than once for his own entertainment. Martin sighed. He liked Douglas, but he would like him even more if his FO wouldn’t constantly belittle him. Snapping out of his thoughts, Martin thanked Susan for the tea and took a sip. “Oh, that’s a really nice cuppa. It’s a little orangy, right?” 

“Yes, it’s green tea with orange. I haven’t tried it before. If you like it, you can grab a few bags, I don’t drink that much tea anyway.”

“Thanks, Susan. That’s very gen….” Martin stopped mid-sentence, for there was suddenly some sort of commotion in the hallway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The good news is: I have already written the epilogue. So I know how the story will end. The bad news is: I'm not sure how to get there. Yet.  
> So please stay tuned even if it takes me a littler longer to post the next chapter.


	4. Shots fired

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating earlier.  
> This is not the whole 4th chapter, just the first part of it. I'm having some difficulty with it, so I'll probably delete it later and upload it again when it is finished.

Martin and Susan heard one person running up the stairs towards Martin’s attic, almost immediately followed by the footsteps and voices of the other students. “Stephen, stop it!” “Don’t be stupid!” “Mark, tackle him!” “Tackle him?! Are you nuts? He has a gun!”

“A gun?” Martin turned white as a sheet as his mind tried to conjure up a peaceful scenario in which Stephen wasn’t going to do anything stupid with a gun in the house. Susan, almost as pale as Martin at this point, looked at him. “Martin, what is Stephen doing with a gun? Hell, where did he even get a gun?”

Before he could even try to answer Susan’s questions, he was distracted by some kind of crash. Realizing that the noise meant his attic door had been violently broken down, Martin finally raced up the stairs and almost ran into Mark, Josh and Amanda, who stood on the small landing in front of Martin’s room. All three of them were looking at Stephen, perched on the window sill of one now very wide open window. He looked exhausted and was nervously fidgeting with the gun. Alternately looking down into the back garden and at the four people who seemed to have been frozen to the spot, he suddenly leant forward as if he wanted to jump. 

 

“Stephen, don’t do it!” That was Mark.  
“Please step down, Stephen!” Amanda.  
“I. Can’t. Do. It. Anymore!” Stephen almost roared. 

“I have called the police and emergency services. They’ll be here in a few minutes,” Susan voice could barely be heard from downstairs. 

Trying to play for time until they arrived, Martin stepped into his room: “Please put the gun away, Stephen. I, uh, I don’t think that you want to hurt us. Or do you? Oh, no no no, sorry, that was a stupid question. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.” Stephen looked at him, as if he was seeing Martin for the first time in his life. He almost whispered: “How do you do it?” 

“Do what, Stephen? How do I do what?” Martin asked softly, hoping his question wouldn’t startle or anger the young student, who seemed to have forgotten his plans of jumping out of the window or worse. 

“Everything.” Stephen’s voice waivered. “How do you cope? How do you manage working two jobs with odd hours, having almost no private life, almost no money to spare, being in love with a friend who doesn’t know anything about your feelings?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for staying interested and as always kudos and comments are much appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading up to this point. Kudos and comments are more than welcome.


End file.
